Jack Cole brings back the Stride ram

We're excited to announce that Pulse@chelsea director Jack Cole has teamed up with Stride and JWT NY for a second time, this time for "Library," featuring the infamous (and hilarious) Stride ram - check out the spot above.

Watch: thirtytwo's video for Wanda Jackson and Jack White's debut single

"First Lady of Rockabilly" Wanda Jackson has just released the rollicking new video for Thunder on the Mountain, directed by none other than Pulse@chelsea's thirtytwo. Shot in a Nashville record pressing plant, the video marks the debut single from Wanda's Jack White-produced new album The Party Ain't Over, and over here at Chelsea we can't get enough of it -- check out the full clip above.

D.A.R.Y.L. direct Katy Perry's Project for T-Mobile

Some exciting news from across the pond: Pulse@chelsea directors D.A.R.Y.L. were recently commissioned by Saatchi & Saatchi London's Life's For Sharing T-Mobile campaign to direct documentary footage of the incredible process behind Katy Perry's Project and the video shoot for the singer's "Firework" video.

For the project, Katy invited young people from all over the world with the potential to become "fireworks" in their own right to share their spark via the web for a chance to be in the Firework video, culminating in a truly inspirational 4 day video shoot in Budapest. See the above video for D.A.R.Y.L.'s 3-minute documentary of the whole process, which has since been a key part of both brand and product ads.

Kevin Macdonald's The Eagle - in theaters today

Right on the heels of Life in a Day's much buzzed-about Sundance premiere, Chelsea director Kevin Macdonald has another new release in theaters with  The Eagle, starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell. Check out the trailer above, and catch it now in theaters - nothing like swords and sandals for an antidote to the freezing weather.

Watch: Tosh.0's hilarious parody of Robb Bindler's Visa spots

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so we're going to take this new clip from Tosh.0 as a major compliment. Watch the above clip for comedian Daniel Tosh's hilarious spoof of Robb Bindler's Visa spots featuring the "Never Miss a Superbowl Club," this time around with die-hard WNBA fans. See below to re-watch the original:


Robb Bindler - Visa - 50 Superbowl's from Chelsea Pictures on Vimeo.

Borgato & Berte document the New York Times "Habits"

We posted back in December when directing duo Borgato & Berte were in town shooting for the New York Times, and, as promised, it's time to take a look at the final product. The spot, "Habits," shows off both the digital and analog ways we all take in the Times every day, whether it's on an e-reader during the commute or spread across the breakfast table on a lazy Sunday. The (beautifully shot, we might add) spot is airing now, so check it out above and keep an eye for B&B's future work.

Lauren Greenfield shoots for Delta and Wieden and Kennedy

Take a look at Lauren Greenfield's moving spot for Wieden and Kennedy and Delta for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Check out the above clip to learn  about the power of the pink dress, and see Lauren's signature photographic style and deeply personal documentary work.

Kevin Macdonald and Alex Gibney screen at Sundance this week

Sundance is always one of our favorite weeks of the year, and this year sees the premieres of some seriously exciting projects from two of Chelsea's own: Alex Gibney's joint directorial project with Allison Ellwood,  The Magic Trip, and Kevin Macdonald's collaboration with YouTube, Life in a Day.

For The Magic Trip, Alex and Allison compiled never before seen footage from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest author (and subject of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test) Ken Kesey's trip to the 1964 New York World's Fair with his infamous band of merry pranksters, a psychedelic bus, and a seemingly bottomless supply of LSD. Needless to say the results are captivating -- both as further insight into the mind of a polarizing figure, and as something of a time capsule of the 1960s.

Kevin Macdonald's Life in a Day also centers around around real life footage, though in a completely different way. Sponsored by YouTube, this unprecedented project enlisted users across the globe to capture a moment of their lives on camera, all on one day: July 24, 2010. The word was spread, and the world responded with more than 80,000 submissions; over 5,000 hours of deeply personal, powerful film clips were uploaded from contributors from Australia to Zambia, resulting in Life in a Day, a compilation of the most compelling images honed by Macdonald, executive producer Ridley Scott and his team, and a crew of talented editors. The film’s 2011 Sundance Film Festival premiere will coincide with its world premiere, thanks to a live broadcast from the festival at 5PM PST on Thursday, January 27 on the Life in a Day YouTube channel - check out this clip from the movie below, and get online with us to watch the world premiere!

Pulse directors thirtytwo profiled in Shots

Fresh off a  Grammy nod for No Distance Left to Run, their documentary following the comeback of Blur, the directing duo (made up of Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace) shot a new spot for Fallon and BBC Radio, and was just profiled in Shots. Check out an excerpt of their interview below:

Tell us how you met and started working together...

We met at university in Liverpool, England. However we later found out that our paths had crossed years before when we both attended the same Saturday morning kids club at the Victoria Cinema in Cambridge in the early eighties. So in a sense we were first brought together by films [including Pete's Dragon, Supergirl and one of the Herbie films - possibly Goes Bananas] years before we even spoke to each other!

Tell us about the Radio 4 Film Season brief...

As huge film lovers we absolutely loved the creative on the Radio 4 Film Season as soon as we heard about it. It was a relatively fast job - we were in Nashville working when it came through, the brief was to take iconic images from famous films and put them into real life situations. So the finished film would be a series of vignettes that nod towards moments or images from films. 

We spent our entire return journey compiling lists of films [sadly this is probably what we would have been doing anyway - after so long working together you run out of things to talk about so a typical time-passing conversation might be to 'Name 10 films with titles that include parts of the body', 'Jaws, Head, Funny Face, My Left Foot...' and so on. Sad but true]. Anyway, we were straight off the plane and into a meeting at Fallon, which went really well. 

The creatives, Gary Anderson and Tony Miller, are also film enthusiasts so the job was really good fun. We had to take out a few of the more obscure references and put some easier ones in, but on reflection it was a good balance. As directors it was a good opportunity for us to do something a little more considered compositionally as a lot of our work to date has a more immediate, documentary feel. 

How would you describe your shooting style?

A lot of the stuff we have shot leans towards a direct, immediate documentary style, handheld intimate photography, concerned with capturing moments, interactions and relationships in a way that is real. But we are also very concerned with how it looks - finding a balance between realism and aesthetic. There is a design to it but it's not as detectable as a big art-directed shoot. 

Tell us about Slowing the Pace for Kronenbourg...

That job was great fun, a chance to meet a living legend. Lemmy was every bit as grizzly and uncompromising in person as we'd hoped. The best thing is that we were actually in the studio directly influencing the re-recording of Ace of Spades - which didn't always go down too well, but was, nonetheless, totally amazing. We've been really lucky with our first two commercials in that the creative was so great. The script by Ian and Matt from BBH was fantastic and we were so happy and appreciative that they went with us for it.

What are you working on at the moment and what's happening in 2011?

Two feature-length projects, another documentary and our first feature. They're both at early stages so we can't say too much, but we're really excited about them. Hopefully this year will see some of our long-form project plans come to fruition and we'll continue to work in commercials and music video.

You can read the full feature - Face to Face with... thirtytwo - on the Shots website, and in the meantime, take a look at their spot for the BBC's Radio 4 Film Season:

Jack Cole shoots for Stride in LA

chelsea's Los Angeles offices kicked off 2011 with Pulse@chelsea director Jack Cole (above, on set) shooting his new spot for Stride and JWT New York, hitting airwaves soon.

Behind the Scenes: Borgato & Berte shoot for The New York Times

It's been a great couple of weeks here at Chelsea in the lead-up to the holidays - we've been lucky enough to have our new directing team Borgato & Berte right here in New York shooting their upcoming spot for The New York Times. Try as we might to be top notch hosts at our NYC office, we couldn't do much about the frigid weather that came to town about the same time B&B did - it never got too far above 25 degrees all week! The shoot was still great, though, and just required a little extra bundling up - see the photo on the left of the duo with Chelsea line producer Jonathan Gribetz (middle). The spot should be hitting the airwaves soon, and we'll post the final cut here on the blog, too!

Getting in the holiday spirit with Rick LeMoine and Acura

Over here at Chelsea, we've been in the full swing of the holiday season since, oh, the week before Thanksgiving. And we're not alone! Our very own Rick LeMoine recently shot several holiday spots for Acura, and we can't get enough of them. Below, check out "Elf":

Rick LeMoine - Acura - Elf from Chelsea Pictures on Vimeo.

Watch: Johan Kramer Talks Shop on Soccer

Like so many here at Chelsea, director Johan Kramer is a man of many talents - before launching his directing career, he was a pro soccer player for Ajax Amsterdam. For you hardcore soccer fans, he has a great new interview up over at Nalden on all things soccer-related (or football-related, depending on your preference). Follow the link to check it out, and below, here's the trailer for his award winning soccer documentary The Other Final:

Chelsea Welcomes Director Adriano Falconi

We here at Chelsea are proud to announce that we've signed an exciting new director to our roster with Adriano Falconi! To borrow from the press release:

Adriano Falconi is recognized internationally for his ability to tell a story through visuals, which earned him a spot as one of the 20 Next Directors by Boards Magazine. Since moving to the US in 2000, Adriano has directed a series of hugely successful advertising spots for clients including Mastercard, Jagermeister, Fiat Group, and Puma.

Falconi has also worked as a war photographer in the former Yugoslavia, recently launched work on his first two feature films, and this fall directed Jeremy Irons in a provocative new PSA for the 1 Billion Hungry project. Check it out below, and help us bid a warm welcome to the newest member of Chelsea!

The Reviews are in for Client 9

We here at Chelsea can stop holding our breath - Alex Gibney's latest documentary Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer hit US theaters today, and the reviews are starting to pour in! Below, a sampling of some of our favorites:

In The New York Times Manohla Dargis writes:

For Mr. Gibney, the juiciest parts of this story weren’t the explicit, sometimes banal details, like Mr. Spitzer’s famous black socks. No, the good stuff, as far as Mr. Gibney’s movie and Mr. Elkind’s book theorize, involves the power brokers who — enraged by Mr. Spitzer’s activism as attorney general, specifically in his hard-charging capacity as the Sheriff of Wall Street — might have had something to do with his downfall.

Variety has this to say:

Gibney is characteristically relentless in his research and interviewing...For all the information here, Gibney is unusual among investigative documentarians in that he never forgets he's making cinema. The shooting of interviews via multiple cameras by d.p. Maryse Alberti, particularly when Gibney is grilling the penitent Spitzer, is effective and striking."

The Washington Post raves that Client 9 is a "gripping portrait of a modern political hit..."

...and, naturally,The Village Voice was a bit more blunt:

The prolific documentarian -- Client 9 is Gibney's fourth film this year -- makes a persuasive case that the former governor may have been brought down not just by his penis, but by his deep-pocketed enemies.

We couldn't be more excited for Alex and Client 9, but don't just take our word for it -- get out there and see it for yourselves!